


Recuérdame

by deathishauntedbyhumans



Category: The Adventures of Puss in Boots (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Confessions, Crying, F/M, Headcanon, Like technically there’s fluff here but lbr it’s most angst, Loss, Love, Post-Canon, Sad Ending, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-11-08 12:50:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17981663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathishauntedbyhumans/pseuds/deathishauntedbyhumans
Summary: Sure, Dulcinea is there at the end of the finale, but things aren’t always as they seem, and the endings aren’t always fairytale happy.





	Recuérdame

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mushygreens](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mushygreens/gifts).



> For all the contractions Puss doesn’t use, Dulcinea uses twice as many.

“Puss, I have a confession to make,” Dulcinea says softly, her paws tightening around Puss’. She feels him nuzzle at the top of her head, and the _sadbad_ lump in her throat gets all-the-more difficult to swallow around.

“A confession?” he asks, and Dulcinea wants to drown in the sleepy warmth of his voice. She wishes she could close her eyes and live forever in this moment, freeze time and just stay here in Puss’ arms. They aren’t in any danger; there are no thieves, no threat of an attack on their beloved town. They’re safe, but more importantly, _San Lorenzo_ is safe, because neither of them can never return.

 _Puss_ can never return. Dulcinea…

“I—“ There are tears prickling at her eyes, so she closes them anyways, and Puss tightens his hold on her.

She can hear the worry in his voice —she loves him _so much_ that it _hurts—_ when he asks, “Dulcinea, what is the matter? Whatever it is, it cannot be that bad.” The _can it?_ goes unsaid, but Dulcinea hears it as clearly as if Puss had yelled it into her ear.

She takes a deep breath. “I won’t be able to stay with you forever.”

Puss stiffens immediately. Dulcinea _hates_ it, hates the sudden tension layering itself thick and heavy between them. This isn’t what she wants! She just wants Puss, unadulterated and himself —and okay, maybe just a little better of a listener, sometimes, but that isn’t the point here!— and _hers,_ and she has him, now, and it isn’t _fair_ that she won’t get to keep him.

It isn’t fair that she has to lose him. And it isn’t fair that _he_ has to lose _her._

“Dulcinea, I do not understand—“

“Sino sent me back with you, but I’m going to fade away.” It comes out in a rush, Dulcinea’s panic getting the better of her. She’s not sure she’s even said real words, for a second, because it doesn’t _feel_ like words when it leaves her mouth. It feels like gibberish, cruel and unwieldy, and it hangs in the air between them.

Slowly, it sinks in. Puss processes as Dulcinea frets, her breathing coming faster, less measured. And then he gently lets go of her paws and shifts, pushing her up carefully by the shoulders. She lets him, but she doesn’t meet his gaze. She _can’t._

“Fade away?” Puss sounds like he’s in shock.

Dulcinea can hardly think. “I’m so sorry, Puss,” she whispers, because she can’t find anything else to say. Puss deserves a thousand apologies for this… this… betrayal. She doesn’t know what else to call it. “I’m—“ her voice cracks, breaks. She’s sure that her throat is closing, suffocating her, and—

“Dulcinea.” The sound of Puss’ voice keeps her grounded. The way he says her name —the way he’s _always_ said her name— forces her gaze to meet his. How can she look away when he’s still touching her, when he’s looking at her with so much warmth, when his voice is filled with so much _love?_ How can one cat be so full of _love?_

It’s not _fair._

“Sino… Sino said that everyone was g-going to fade away.” Dulcinea is crying. Oh no, _ohnoohnoohno_ , she didn’t want to cry. She’d wanted to be _strong_ for Puss! But the fur on her face is damp, already, and Puss brushes a paw against her cheek that she can’t help but lean into as she continues. “He said that everyone would fade away and g-go back to the moment when you first came to San Lorenzo. And I asked him… I asked him if I could come back here, until I faded. And he said yes.”

A sob overtakes her, and now she’s crying harder, and Puss pulls her in once more and wraps his arms tightly around her and _oh_ she buries her face in the fur on his neck and breathes him in, all warmth and musk and _home._ She’s trembling and it’s not _fair, it’s not_ **_fair_** _,_ because Puss is going to have to deal with Dulcinea disappearing on him and she’s going to go back to her life in San Lorenzo before meeting him and she won’t even _remember_ him and now Puss is holding her while she cries when _she_ should be offering _him_ comfort and—

“Dulcinea,” Puss murmurs. He’s been talking to her since he pulled her in close, but her name is the first thing that registers. She… isn’t used to being the one not listening, but she supposes that they all have their moments. (Puss just has… a few more moments than the rest. And she loves him for it, oh… She’s going to miss him, even if she won’t know it.) “Dulcinea, it is… It will be alright. I do not know quite how the magic words, I admit, but I am… really, very really glad that you have come back to me, even for a short time.”

“Oh, Puss—“ Dulcinea sniffles hard. “Puss, I’m so— so sorry, I—“

Puss shushes her gently and leans back, so that he can look into her eyes once more. She sees the _world_ in his eyes, and… she has no idea how she’s ever going to live without it.

“Why would you ever be sorry for such a thing?” he asks, and he’s doing that _thing_ that he does when he’s trying to pretend to be braver than he really is, where his mouth tries to smile but it doesn’t quite make it and his eyes give away the trick. His eyes are _sad_ , somber and broken, but he’s trying —for _her,_ Dulcinea thinks, and she feels broken, too— he’s _trying_ to offer her some kind of comfort. As hollow as it is, it helps enough for Dulcinea to take a deep breath and really focus on Puss as he speaks. “I got to see you again, Dulcinea. I got to tell you how much I—“ Puss takes a shaky breath. “—how much I love you. How much I utterly adore you, and have for so long. You… You have given me a chance to hold you—“ He squeezes her gently. Dulcinea smiles a tumultuous smile; it’s worth it to see Puss try and smile back. “—and that is worth more than any priceless treasure in the whole entire world.”

Dulcinea leans in and presses her forehead against Puss’. “It’s not fair,” she whispers, eyes falling closed. She feels Puss’ fingers against the side of her head, caressing her ears, drying her tears.

“No,” he agrees, tone and volume matching. “It is not. But I do not think that any of the evils we have faced have ever cared about fairness.”

Dulcinea takes another breath to try and stop more traitorous tears from falling. “No, they haven’t. That’s very rude of them.” Her voice cracks a little on _rude;_ she ignores it, and she’s thankful when Puss does, too.

Instead, Puss chuckles, and it only sounds a _teensy_ bit forced. “Yes, that it is.” His nose brushes hers, and she opens her eyes a crack to see Puss looking intently at her. “I love you,” he murmurs, and Dulcinea feels her heart clench painfully and _soar_ at the same time.

“I love you,” she whispers in return, and their mouths brush together and nothing is okay but Puss holds her tighter and the world is all the brighter for it.

* * *

In the morning, Dulcinea awakens in her own bed and stretches peacefully with a yawn. She can already hear someone moving about above her— probably Toby, judging by the heavy steps on the creaking floorboards of the orphanage.

Glancing out the window makes her heart sing. The sun is shining through the magic barrier, the townsfolk are slowly beginning their days, and everything is right with the world. Everything is just the way it should be.

She reaches for _The Wee Compendium_ on her nightstand and hugs it happily.

“Good morning!” she chirps to it before flipping it open and rifling through the pages. “ _When the morning dawns quite bright, hug and friend and feel just right,”_ she reads aloud. When she snaps the book shut and looks up, Toby is standing in her doorway, and she smiles pleasantly at him.

“Good morning, Miss Dulcinea,” Toby says, and Dulcinea opens her arms for a hug. He smiles in the same goofy manner he always does and rushes her, tugging her in for a crushing hug that has her eyes watering. She pats him on the shoulder until he puts her down. “I had a bad dream last night,” he announces, frowning, when both of her feet are back on the floor.

The statement stirs something in her. A bad dream last night… Dulcinea feels like she had one, too, but she can’t remember—

“I’m sorry to hear that, Toby,” she says, sympathy lacing the words. “Would you like me to fix some breakfast to make you feel better?” she asks, and Toby nods vehemently.

“Please! And I can tell you all about my nightmare,” he says. Dulcinea nods indulgently and leads him towards the kitchen as he continues. “It was… uh, um, there was a… uh… dark…” Toby frowns deeply and crosses his arms, watching Dulcinea absently as she begins to make something to eat. “I… don’t remember,” he tells her, sounding put-out.

Dulcinea climbs onto the counter to open a cupboard. “Sometimes, we don’t remember our dreams, and it’s for the better, especially when they’re bad and scary.”

“But this one felt so _real,_ Dulcinea!”

_Real. Real warmth and real musk and real home all rolled into a real roguish ginger package with a real blinding smile and—_

Dulcinea shakes herself and finds the pan she needed before clambering down from the counter again.

“It was only a dream, Toby,” she tells him, gentle-but-firm. Toby looks dubious, but when she offers him an apple as a before-breakfast snack, he drops the subject entirely in favour of the treat.

  
_It was only a dream,_ she tells herself firmly. By the time breakfast is made and the rest of the children have joined them, she can absolutely almost believe it.

**Author's Note:**

> I made up the _Wee Compendium_ rhyme lmao
> 
> Me and mushygreens (bless her soul I’ve gotten her into this Mad Place of a show) and I were talking after watching the finale (rewatching for me, first time for her) and she came up with a Fun™ theory: that Dulcinea might not get to stay with Puss forever, because what if she had to fade away just like everyone else, but the favour she asked Sino for was just a little more time with Puss? 
> 
> Anyways, that’s where THIS MESS came from. I have another PiB fic in the works, but the muses are quiet on that one rn, so this happened instead. 
> 
> Kudos/comments are love! Come scream at me on tumblr @deathishauntedbyhumans.


End file.
